Abstract

Temperature, depth, and major habitat type have a strong effect on the distribution of reef fish and thus affect reef fish assemblage variability across the seascape. The Florida Reef Tract is currently broken up into several geographic sub-regions; Dry Tortugas, Lower Keys, Middle Keys, Upper Keys, Biscayne, and southeast mainland Florida. Multiple distinct reef fish assemblage biogeographic regions have recently been identified in the southeast Florida sub-region at the margin of warm tropical water and cooler temperate waters. Different assemblages associated with distinct benthic habitats are seen along and across the reef tract at this juncture. This study willbuild upon previous work and use regionally consistent robust fishery independent visual reef census data to assess potential biogeographic assemblage regions throughout the rest of the reef tract and compare those with the current geographic boundaries for southeast Florida. Multivariate data will be ana-lyzed to determine similar assemblages and with which benthic habitat they associate. Spatial distribution of similarity clus-ters will be analyzed to determine assemblage extents. Defining region based on assemblage instead of geography informs the stratification of site placement and data analyses in future monitoring efforts such as the National Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Program (NCREMP), South East Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (SCREMP), and Florida Reef Resilience Program (FRRP). This will provide a baseline for future climate change and management studies.

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